Sunday, February 10, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama trounced Hillary Clinton in three state votes yesterday, upping the ante in the latest chapter of their tense battle for the presidential nomination.

Obama more than doubled Clinton's support in Nebraska and Washington and easily won Louisiana, increasing his stash of delegate support required to take the crown at the party convention this August.

"We are tired of being disappointed by our politics," Obama told a Democratic party dinner where supporters shouted the now familiar refrain: "Yes we can!"

"They want to write a new chapter in American history," he said. "This is our moment. This is our time for change."

Obama and Clinton emerged almost dead even from 22 contests on Super Tuesday in their historic bids to become the first woman or African-American to run for the party in this fall's general election.

But now Clinton, who's losing the fundraising game as well, is facing the prospect of going for quite a stretch before winning another state.

With some delegates left to be counted yesterday, Clinton had 1,064 with Obama right behind at 1,029 of the 2,025 needed to win.

There were 158 up for grabs in the three states and another three in the Virgin Islands, which Obama also swept.

Republican nominee John McCain suffered an embarrassing slap yesterday from Mike Huckabee, who won by a huge margin in Kansas and vowed to stay in the race despite trailing badly in delegate support.

"I know the pundits, and I know what they say, that the math doesn't work out," said Huckabee, a former Baptist minister.

"Folks, I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles, and I believe in those," he told a cheering crowd at an annual gathering of party conservatives.

Huckabee was leading in early returns in Louisiana while McCain was ahead in Washington.

Democrats will vote today in Maine before the next big round for both parties Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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Meanwhile Obama was in Maine yesterday, rallying supporters for voting later today (Sunday, Feb. 10th). The Obama camp expects to make a good showing in Maine, but a win is not a sure thing. A good sign for Obama was the size of the audience at his rally....thousands more people showed up than expected....resulting in crowds literally spilling out into the streets around the venue.

The next big contest will be on Tuesday February 12th, with voters in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. taking part in the "Potomac Primary". Obama is expected to do well in all 3 contests.

Back in November 1992, I was in Little Rock, Ark., watching the presidential returns roll in, with Bill and Hillary Clinton. I had briefly run for president that year myself, so one set of results stood out. Mr. Clinton missed winning my home state by a margin much slimmer than many would have guessed -- about five points. When I saw that, I turned to the new first couple and noted that Mr. Clinton could have carried Virginia, if only he had campaigned there.

On Tuesday, Virginia will hold its presidential primary along with Maryland and Washington, D.C., in what's being called the "Potomac Primary." And I again find myself in the position of telling Democrats that Virginia can be a competitive state in the general election, if only the party decides to compete here.

Two years ago, Barack Obama came to Virginia and discovered a state ready to be competitive for Democrats. He was campaigning for Jim Webb, who was running against incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen, and found an overflow crowd at a rally at Virginia Union University in Richmond. The crowd went wild when Mr. Obama stepped on stage. Many in the state are still cheering for him. In 2007, Mr. Obama was back, this time as a featured speaker at our Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and he again drew a large crowd -- larger than any we've ever had at the annual event.

Today, the nation's attraction to Mr. Obama is even more amplified. Unprecedented numbers of people of all kinds are attracted to his presidential campaign. He is gifted with an ability to inspire us unlike any political figure in decades.

I believe Mr. Obama can make Virginia competitive for Democrats in November. And I believe he is the right person for president and for our times, because he embodies the spirit of hope and renewal of our quintessential American faith that we can, and must, do better. Listen to his campaign speeches and you will hear something not heard often enough at Democratic rallies -- the crowd chanting "U-S-A" and the speaker making the case for American exceptionalism.

Virginia is neither a red state nor a blue state. Its citizens are too independent-minded. Having been elected first lieutenant governor and then governor some years ago as a Democrat here, I can tell you that voter support depends more on a particular candidate than it does on party affiliation.

Democrats now have an opportunity to carry Virginia. The progress that Mr. Obama promises is not aimed at any particular group of Americans. It's a new freedom for all Americans, a freedom to dream again and to believe that we are not stuck in the past.

This election isn't about pitting the 1960s against the 1980s, or the Clinton years against the Bush years. It's about opening up the doors to a new generation of leadership, because so many people are tired of the partisan bickering and the status quo cynicism.

Democrats are paying attention to Virginia this year. Tonight both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama will attend our Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. In view of Super Tuesday's closely divided outcome, interest is shifting to the Potomac. The time may finally be past when two unrepresentative small states, Iowa and New Hampshire, have an outsized influence on who is nominated for president. And we may be ending an era that was defined by campaigns focusing on a handful of "purple" states, turning voters in the other states into frustrated bystanders. The anachronistic Electoral College system that focuses on scores tallied at the end of the race may have made that process seem inevitable. But in an era when candidates reach across traditional party lines, it isn't.

I am not a bystander. Many thought that my career in elective office was over in 1994 when I left the governor's mansion. But in 2005 I became mayor of Richmond for one simple reason: This great city needed better, more engaged leaders than it was getting.

I've been called "spry," because I've been willing to wage budget fights and otherwise shake up politics as usual in my state's capital city. But at 77, I'm old enough to have attended segregated schools and graduated from college when Harry Truman was in the White House, and to have fought in the Korean War. What I've seen during my lifetime is a tremendous amount of social, racial and economic progress. And what I see coming in the future is an opportunity to make greater strides.

Make no mistake, there are false hopes. Believing that if we ignore problems they will go away is a false hope. Believing that, if we are patient and wait in line, the powerful will give us a turn at the wheel is a false hope. The greatest false hope is perhaps the prejudice that only insiders know what is best, and that only those who have spent time in the White House know how to make government work. When pundits ask, "What does change mean?" they let slip the false hopes and prejudices they cling to.

If that were true, there would be no need for fresh leadership. We wouldn't even need an election this year. We could just return everyone by acclamation. But, then, will that return us to peace and prosperity?

We know very well what change means, and we know what hope means. That is why we must learn to ride the waves of change and that is why America is crying out for leadership that takes possession of the problems we face.

We have always been a questioning nation, and it is our challenge to seek answers. Mr. Obama is a forceful voice on the American scene who will be our agent for meaningful change -- a voice committed to carry our nation to greater heights and to heal the divisions within our country. Unlike any other candidate, he inspires so many people of every description to step up and say: Yes, we can.

Mr. Wilder, a former governor of Virginia, is the mayor of Richmond, Va.

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"The two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a ‘gentleman's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote ... May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either the Republican or the Democratic Parties." -- W.E.B. DuBois (1922)